Veg Chowmein is a classic Indo-Chinese dish made with Egg noodles, stir fried with a choice of vegetables. Noodles is everyone’s favourite and the Chinese noodles have been adapted & built into almost every cuisine. Any noodle today, other than the instant ones, immediately conjure up Chinese cuisine in mind.
Having numerous variations, it can be served as crispy fried (Hong Kong style), in gravy, with shredded vegetables or with choice of meat ranging from shredded chicken, shrimp to pork. In India, Chowmein has become so popular that it is now a street food, served crispy or soft across popular chat places.
Noodles has been my constant choice of food in every single Chinese restaurant I’ve eaten in while growing up. Even today, at my home, this noodle is a classic hit when the kids come home. They happily lap up the long strands of noodle and also the vegetables that are also cut into strips – a great way to infuse colour and vegetables into the kids diet.
One of the best part of Chinese cuisine has always been the way the vegetable hold flavour and yet retain its crunchiness. Make this Veg Chowmein holiday special in just 15 minutes once you have prepped all the ingredients. You can also try out our Chicken Chowmein.
Veg Chowmein
Ingredients
- 200 g Dried Chinese Egg Noodles
- 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 1 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
- 2 cloves Garlic crushed
- 100 g Button Mushroom sliced
- 3 stalks Spring Onions thinly sliced on the diagonal
- 1 Red Capsicum Sliced
- 2 tsp Light Soy Sauce
- 1/2 tbsp Toasted White Sesame Seeds
- 1/2 tbsp Toasted Black Sesame seeds
- Salt & Pepper as per taste
Instructions
- Fill a wok or medium saucepan with water, bring to a boil and cook the egg noodles until al-dente, about 3-5 minutes.
- Drain, then coat with few drops of toasted sesame oil to prevent the noodles from sticking together and set aside.
- Heat a wok over high heat and add the vegetable oil + remaining sesame oil.
- When the wok is smoking, add the garlic and stir-fry until fragrant.
- Add the mushrooms and cook until staring to brown, about one to two minutes. Season the mushrooms with Chinese five-spice powder. Stir-fry for one minute more.
- Now add the capsicum and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until semi-cooked (you can add a few tablespoons of water to help create some steam to cook the capsicum if necessary).
- Toss in the cooked egg noodles, season with the light soy sauce, pepper and salt.
- Garnish with sliced scallions, toasted black and white sesame seeds and serve immediately.
